DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
AUGUST 1, 2024
THURSDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
FIRST READING
JEREMIAH 18:1-6 OR (ROMANS 8:1-4)
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 145(146):1-6 OR (PSALMS 119:9-14)
Response: Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have being.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
When his breath departs he returns to his earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL
Trained for the kingdom of heaven
MATTHEW 13:47-53 OR (MATTHEW 5:13-19)
47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." 51 "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." 52 And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." 53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there.
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
A scribe who is trained for the kingdom of heaven, by Cyril of Alexandria (375-444 AD)
"A scribe is one who, through continual reading of the Old and New Testaments, has laid up for himself a storehouse of knowledge. Thus Christ blesses those who have gathered in themselves the education both of the law and of the gospel, so as to 'bring forth from their treasure things both new and old.' And Christ compares such people with a scribe, just as in another place he says, 'I will send you wise men and scribes' (Matthew 23:34)"
(excerpt from Fragment 172)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.